Snow-melter



J. BARRY.

SNOW MELTER. APPLICATION men act. 11. me.

Patented Mar. 9, 1920.

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snow-Manna.

. Speci t on of Letters Patent PatentediMar.'9 ,1920.

- Application filed October 17, 1918. Serial No. 258,551.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, JAMES BARRY, a citi- Zen of the United'States, residing at Hercules, in .the county of Contra'Costa and State of California, have invented new and useful Improvements in Snow-Melters, of

, which the following is a specification.

This invention relates to a device for cleaning snow from railway right-of-ways. It is'the'principal ob ect of this invention toprovidesimple and econom'icalmeans for clearing snow from railway tracks without the use of power shovelsand other e'xpe'nsnow drift as it is melting.

sively operated power "mechanisms. The present invention contemplates the use of a portable heating apparatus adapted to be carriedupon"arailway car orother suitable it from its obstructing position. .The in; vention also contemplates the provision of means for mechanically breaking up the The invention is illustrated inthe accompanying drawing in which the figure discloses a diagrammatical view in side elevation ofthe entire ap paratus. p

Referring moreparticularly tothe drawingS,q10' indicates the bed of the flat car which is here shown as provided withtrucks l1 and 12. Mounted upon one "end of this bed or platform is a steam'boiler 13 which .may be supplied with fuel from any desired source. In the present instance, however, a'fuel oil tank 14: ismounted upon the platforrn and supplies thefuel to oil burners be-' neath'the boiler by'means of a suppl :pipe 1'5. The'water tank 16 is also mounte upon vtheplatform and ,provides the necessary supply) of water forthe boiler. in order to maintain a proper working temperature of the. oil .and water .in the tanks under adverse "conditions, steam coils 17 are .led around the two tanks andareinclosed withinsuitable casings I8- whichi.insure;that the heat radiated from the coils will properly warm the contents of the tanks. These coils are both supplied with steam from the boiler through pipes 19.

. Directly mounted upon the forward end of the car is a sheet metalhousing 20. This housing is permanently attached to the front of the car and extends outwardly over the track. The forward end of the housing is p n n h p e ent a la g radia i a thr ug which h a imay p s f m oi burners- 21, which are inclosd within the "ho ng- T s burner ar p siti n wi h their nozzles extending horizontally so that ranged in two sets, one above the other. @It is evident that various other changes could be made in the arrangement of theburners without departingpfrom the spiritof the invention and it is to be understood'that a s ri s of the burn rs ex n ho zontally across and within thehousing, Due-to 125 0 connection 22, the burners may be swung vertically, when desired, to direct 1 the jflames against certain parts of the snow bank; ,In order to lncrease or decrease the intenslty of theiheatiemanate'd from the mouth of? thehousing 20, a sliding joint23'has'been provided to allow the'burners to bemoved horizontally in relation to the oil feedpipe 24. The upper portion ofthe housing is fitted with ahinged roof 25 pivoted upon therod 26. This member may be swung'upwardly to inc'reasethe area of the opening through which the heatis emanated and will .thus allow the heat to be applied to snow banks of considerable height. In order to disintegrate the snow, as presented 'to the mouth of the'housing, breaker arms 27 are mounted upon vertical shafts 28. These shafts are carried by the housing and stand vertically and in spaced relation to .each '90 other across the mouth thereof. These arms travel in 'horizontal planes and will drag through the face ;ofthe' snow drift toloosen thesnow"as-'melted. Power is derived for v theshafts 28 through-"suitable gearing con .nected with a countershaft 29, and whichin turn is driven by; a chain shaft 3'0. Shaft *30'is fitted with a sprocket '31 "carrying-a sprocket chain 32 which leads to a sprocket-33 fmount e d iup on the "forward azilefA. of the car "1'0 0 truck 11. It..will"thus'ibe,seen that asthe "ca-r advances, the shafts 28- willbepl aced in motion and will continue in motion throughout the advancing movement of the car. Al-

though it may not be proven to be necessary,

the fuel supply 24 is provided with a pump 35 WhlCl1 is driven by a small steam engine 36, deriving its power from the boiler. This pump will produce a force feed for the fuel and will insure that proper atomization of of their coils 17. The car may then be drawn or pushed along the track to be cleaned and when the point of operation is reached, the burners 2l may be lighted. The

flame from these burners will extend outwardly through the open mouth of the housing 20 and strike the snow, at the same time raising the temperaturepof the air within the housing to a high degree. It may be de-' sired to line the housing with asbestos in order to insure that the major part of the heat generated by the burners will be thrown outwardly against the snow bank. As the cars move forwardly, the arms 27 will be 'actuated to claw the snow and to disintegrate it as it is heated. In the event that the bank is high, the roof 25 may be swung upwardly and held in its posltion by tightening lock-nuts 37 carried by bolts on the sides of the roof, which bolts extend through arcuate slots 38. in the sides of the housing.

The steam from the boiler will be conducted from a pipe 19 to the pipe 2 1C701 otherwise placed in communication with the burners 21 so that this steam will act upon the oil to cause it to more thoroughly vaporize as it passes from theburner, thus producing a more volatile fuel. be recognized that by this arrangement, the

steamwhich is sprayed out through the noz-' zles will act to assist in melting the snow.

It will thus be seen that the invention here disclosed, provides an effective portable de .vice which will readily act to clear snow and ice from a track or roadway, irrespectlve of the weather conditions during the time of operation and without danger of the apparatus being renderedinoperative, due to the extremely low temperatures.

WVhile I have shown the'preferred form of my invention, it will be understood that various changes in the combination, construction and arrangement of parts may be made ,by those skilled in the art, without departing from the spirit of the invention as claimed.

It will also support upon which they are mounted, a fixed divergent hood supported from the movable vehicle, a supplemental hood hinged to the fixed hood with means to open, and vary the divergency, a pump upon the vehicle,-jet pipes leading therefrom and discharging hot gases from the hood front, said pipes being telescoped and adjustable, a vertical shaft j ournaled at the front of the hood with radially projecting arms and means driven from the vehicle to rotate the shaft and arms.

2. In an apparatus of the character described, oil and water containers with in closing heating coils; a boiler with which said coils are connected, and a movable vehicle uporf which they are carried, a'hood fixed to the front of the vehicle and diverg ing forwardly a series of burners and a'conducting pipe, a pump by which oil vapor and heated gases are forced through the pipe to the burner, an adjustable hood hinged to the main hood, and a series of horizontally projectingarms and means to rotate them horizontally to loosen and disburse the snow outwardly.

3. In a'device of the character described, a fuel supply tank, a vehicle upon which said tank is mounted having a housing open at the front, a plurality of burners extending into the housing, means to discharge vapor "from said tank to the burners, a hood hinged to the housing having an open mouth to allow flames from the burners to be projected therethrough, and means whereby the opening through which the flames are projected may be variably adjusted.

4. In a device of the character described,

a fuel supply tank, a vehicle upon which said tank is mounted having a housing open at the front, a plurality of burners extending into the housing, means to discharge vapor from said tank to the burner, a hood hinged to the housing having an open mouth to allow flames from the burners tobe projected therethrough, means to adjust the burners forward and backward or to tilt them vertically, and means to adjust the hood relative to the discharge from the burners.

In testimony whereof I have hereunto set my hand in the presence of two subscribing witnesses. y

'JAMES BARRY. Witnesses: JOHN H. HERRING,

W. W. HEALEY. 

